Scout proposes handicap picnic table

The Town Council received a proposal at their March meeting by a scout to install an Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant (ADA), handicap-accessible picnic table at the Community Park Playground.

Boy Scout Nicholas Lowe, of Thurmont, told the board that the construction and installation of the table would take place in two parts. "I will first assemble it at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall parking lot, and then I will transport the bench that is completed to the south end of the park, prep the ground, and then set the bench." The scout said he would probably commence with the project after May.

Lowe said he is doing this as his Eagle Scout project, and that he would be using GoFundMe as a source of fund-raising. Commissioner T. J. Burns suggested that a link to the GoFundMe site could be posted on the town website to aid in the fund-raising effort.

Town will mail census forms to P.O. boxes

The Town of Emmitsburg will be mailing census forms to Post Office boxes, because there are residents who have only a Post Office box as an address, and the federal government will not send forms to those boxes.

Town Planner Zach Gulden said, "If you have (only) a Post Office box, which is almost 600 people within our town, you will not receive a census mailer. It's really weird. It's a really strange thing that the federal government does."

"However, we're partnering with Frederick County Census Committee, we will be putting in the mailers to those PO boxes," further noting, "You have until July 31st (to fill the forms out)."

Gulden said the County Census Committee will be creating a form designed to be sent to Post Office boxholders, which the town will then mail to those residents. "They'll be put in each Post Office box," he said.

Proposed Rutter's pump station advances

The Town Council voted to sign Rutter's application for a state Department of the Environment permit application for a proposed sewer pump station.

The proposed pump station would be built by Rutter’s, and would be located on the site of a new Rutter's convenience store to be located at 10201 Taneytown Road. The plant will be designed to serve up to 500 single-family homes.

The pump station is part of a project being undertaken by Rutter’s to create a 50-acre, commercial development, to include retail stores and restaurants, in addition to the convenience store.

The overall proposal specifically entails the construction of an 8,380 square-foot store which will include seven gasoline fuel islands and five diesel fuel bays, as well as a truck scale.

The Planning Commission previously approved a forest conservation plan, a site plan, and an improvement plan.

Four waysides conditionally approved

The Town Council voted at their February meeting to conditionally approve four proposed wayside markers to allow edits to be made to the Emmitsburg Press signage.

The approval was conditioned on the implementation of changes to the Emmitsburg Press sign incorporating reference to the importance of newspapers, especially before the age of the radio.

The approval included signage denoting the histories of the "Great Fire of 1863," the Vigilant Hose Company, the Carriage House Inn building, and the Chronicle Press building.

The total cost of the four wayside exhibits will be $22,024, according to Town Manager Cathy Willets, 50-percent of which ($12,062), was obtained as a Maryland Heritage Areas Authority grant.